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I just got back from China. It was an awesome trip! I finally got to see the great wall, the forbidden city, the summer palace! Anyway the purpose of the blog is not to talk about my trip. It is to talk about Pu-Erh.

We bought a lot of tea leafs while we were in China. 4 HUGE boxes of Pu-Erh to be exact, for a grand total of RMB 1,200. The aunties said ‘buy Doreen buy, good deal!’, so I bought some. I have been drinking about two glasses of this tea everyday for the past week. I think it does wonders, because I lost about 1 kg in a week just from drinking this. Anyway the only thing I don’t like about it is that the tea can be too ‘leong’ for me. I get leg cramps from drinking this.

Discussing the merits of tea with my friends actually broadened my knowledge a bit.  My friend told me that Pu-Erh tea is actually ‘Po Lei’. Weird hey? How can Pu-Erh in mandarin possibly be ‘Po Lei’ in cantonese?!?!?! But the fact remains that they are both one and the same.

Below are some paragraphs I copy and pasted from articles on Pu-Erh tea. I hope you will enjoy reading this.

Pu-erh or Pu’er tea (Chinese: 普洱茶; pinyin: pǔ’ěrchá) is a fermented tea, named after Pu’er county in Yunnan, China. It is an unusual tea, because unlike other teas which are consumed shortly after production, it is often aged before consumption; it is not impossible to find pu-erh older than 20, 30, or even 50 years. Indeed, connoisseurs pay heavy prices for older “Pu-Erh”, and classify the teas by year of production, much like a wine vintage. In addition to loose leaf, pu-erh tea is typically bought in cakes of compacted tea.

Unlike other varieties of tea, Pu-Erh is traditionally made with leaves from tall, old trees. These trees are of a varietal known as "broad leaf tea" (大叶, dà yè) found only in Southwest China and bordering regions in Burma, Vietnam, and Laos. The leaves are covered with fine hairs, are larger than other tea leaves, and have a different chemical composition. Leaves from old tea trees growing in the wild on different "tea mountains" are highly valued; more and more, connoisseurs seek Pu-Erh with leaves taken from a single tea mountain’s wild forests, unblended with leaves from any other areas.

Oftentimes Pu-Erh is formed into cakes or bricks, wrapped in paper or pomelo rinds, and stored away from excessive moisture, heat, and sunlight in order to further mature. After being stored for many years, the tea takes on darker, mellower characteristics that come with age. This feature of Pu-Erh probably originated from the natural aging process that happened along the ancient caravan routes. The tea bricks developed a unique clean earthy flavor that was then refined by aficionados.

The restorative and medical properties associated with Pu-erh tea is truly astonishing. Often referred to as the “Wonder Tonic” and the “Medicinal Tea”, Pu-erh tea has been hugely popular in China for over 1700 years. For centuries it was given as a tribute to the Emperor and high ranking officials within the Imperial Courts of China. Its high value and many health benefits lead to high demands and the frequency of the tributes gave it the title “Tribute Tea”.

Accounts on the health benefits and medical use of Pu-erh tea has been documented in various ancient scripts and famous books throughout Chinese history. Pu-erh tea is strongly believed to have wide ranging health benefits from anti aging, prevention of heart disease and cancer, diabetic control, removal of toxins to curing dysentery, inflammation, aiding digestion and weight loss, improving the eyesight, blood circulation and reviving those who are overly intoxicated with alcohol.

I hope this is informative for you. If you don’t remember anything you have read, please just remember one thing - ‘Pu-Erh’ is ‘Po Lei’.

I had a conversation with my friend in Canada. It all started out innocently enough, with him saying me that he will take me out for 10 cents wings if I go back to Calgary. Somehow the conversation went into the topic of Buffalo wings. My friend insisted that Buffalo wings are made from buffalo meat. Buffalo’s legbone to be specific. I was like ?!?!?!?!?! Buffalo wings are made from CHICKEN! Despite my unwillingness to back down on my view, he was quite adamant and tried to convince me otherwise. I am embarrased to say that at one point, I wavered a bit, and actually started to believe him…

Just to make sure that I wouldn’t look like a fool, I did some fast web surfing and I pulled out articles and recipes on Buffalo wings. Sure enough, the main ingrediant in ALL of the recipes is CHICKEN!!! I cut and pasted paragraphs of the articles I pulled out, he read them and said that I should have trusted him and I that shouldn’t be so gullible and silly as to believe everything I read online. I was like ?!?!?!?!?! GULLIBLE?!?!?! SILLY?!?!?! I had all the facts and proof here to say that Buffalo wings are indeed chicken wings!!! At that point, I wanted to strangle him to death!!!!!! I still do…hmmm…

Ladies and gentlemen, if you don’t want to get me upset, please don’t try to convince me that Buffalo wings are ‘Buffalo wings’. Below are some facts about Buffalo wings that you might want to read, for entertainment purposes of course. Who knows, maybe it will be a good topic to talk about in your future social gatherings.

"Buffalo Wings (known simply as "wings" or "chicken wings" in much of the Northeastern United States, especially in areas around Buffalo, NY, where they are almost never referred to as Buffalo Wings by locals), are unbreaded chicken wing sections (called flats and drums), deep fried, and coated in a cayenne pepper-based sauce with other seasonings. Although many variations on this sauce exist, the original sauce is composed of only five ingredients: cayenne pepper sauce, white vinegar, butter, salt, and garlic. When using a prepared hot sauce of vinegar and cayenne pepper, the recipe is simply a mixture of hot sauce and melted butter. Buffalo wings are named after the city of Buffalo, New York where they originated, and the appellation "buffalo" is now commonly applied to foodstuffs other than wings that are seasoned with the sauce or close variations on it.

In wing parlance, a "single" order is ten wings, a "double" is 20, and a "triple" is 30. Buffalo wings can usually be ordered by the "bucket" in quantities of 50 or more, and Buffalo wing sauce can be made with a variable amount of heat/spiciness, the names of these sauces generally corresponding to the level of heat (for example, "suicidal," "hot," "medium," or "mild"). For authentic Buffalo wings, "hot," "medium," and "mild" all use the same sauce. Cooks achieve the requested level of heat by adding cayenne (or other spices, such as african bird seed) to raise the "heat" or adding butter to cool the spiciness.

Buffalo wings are now typically served with celery sticks, carrot sticks, and blue cheese salad dressing. Some restaurants serve their wings with ranch dressing instead of blue cheese (but never in Buffalo, NY)."

The punch line of the story is? After all this hard work, he said he was kidding, and that he couldn’t believe I was so gullible that I actually believed him! Haaah…haaah…haaah. I’m glad he found it entertaining. *ROLLS HER EYES* Haaah…haaah…haaah…WHATEVER

I think he wouldn’t take me out for wings anymore now that he has read my blog…Kekeke.